Evidence of feedback regulation of C-type natriuretic peptide during Vosoritide therapy in Achondroplasia

Evidence from genetic disorders of CNP signalling suggests that plasma concentrations of CNP are subject to feedback regulation. In subjects with Achondroplasia (Ach), CNP intracellular activity is suppressed and plasma concentrations are raised but the therapeutic impact of exogenous CNP agonists on endogenous CNP is unknown. In this exploratory dose finding and extension study of 28 Ach children receiving Vosoritide over a 5 year period of treatment, endogenous CNP production was assessed using measurements of plasma aminoterminal proCNP (NTproCNP) adjusted for age and sex and normalised as standard deviation score (SDS), and then related to skeletal growth. Before treatment NTproCNP SDS was raised. Within the first 3 months of accelerating growth, levels were significantly reduced. Across the 5 years of sustained growth, levels varied widely and were markedly increased in some subjects during adolescence. Plasma NTproCNP was suppressed at 4 h post-injection in proportion to the prevailing level of hormone resistance as reflected by SDS before injection. We conclude CNP remains subject to regulation during growth promoting doses of Vosoritide. Fall in CNP during accelerating growth is consistent with an indirect feedback whereas the fall at 4 h is likely to be a direct effect from removal of intra cellular CNP resistance.

The Effects of Digitally Mediated Multimodal Indirect Feedback on Narrations in L2 Spanish Writing: Eye Tracking as a Measure of Noticing

Written corrective feedback (CF) could pave the way for L2 development, especially when embedded in multimodality. Building on prior research, this descriptive study drew a relationship between specific types of errors that were most successfully revised and noticing measured by eye-tracking techniques. Additionally, this study furthers our understanding of the impact of indirect CF (i.e., codes accompanied by metalinguistic hints) delivered by two multimodal components: (a) a video tutorial on how to approach teachers’ comments and (b) a soundless video displaying individualized teacher feedback. To this end, three L2 learners of Spanish completed a narration in the target language, watched a tutorial on attending to CF, received indirect feedback via the personalized soundless video (i.e., option “b” above), and corrected their errors. An eye tracker recorded all ocular activity while the participants watched both recordings. The results suggested that receiving training on approaching teachers’ comments may enhance the overall success rate of revisions, especially in verb and vocabulary-related errors. Last, a detailed unfolding of the revision process unveiled by eye-tracking data accounted for (1) an explanation of why two specific types of errors were more successfully revised and (2) some pedagogical recommendations.

Causal neural mechanisms of context-based object recognition

Objects can be recognized based on their intrinsic features, including shape, color, and texture. In daily life, however, such features are often not clearly visible, for example when objects appear in the periphery, in clutter, or at a distance. Interestingly, object recognition can still be highly accurate under these conditions when objects are seen within their typical scene context. What are the neural mechanisms of context-based object recognition? According to parallel processing accounts, context-based object recognition is supported by the parallel processing of object and scene information in separate pathways. Output of these pathways is then combined in downstream regions, leading to contextual benefits in object recognition. Alternatively, according to feedback accounts, context-based object recognition is supported by (direct or indirect) feedback from scene-selective to object-selective regions. Here, in three pre-registered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiments, we tested a key prediction of the feedback hypothesis: that scene-selective cortex causally and selectively supports context-based object recognition before object-selective cortex does. Early visual cortex (EVC), object-selective lateral occipital cortex (LOC), and scene-selective occipital place area (OPA) were stimulated at three time points relative to stimulus onset while participants categorized degraded objects in scenes and intact objects in isolation, in different trials. Results confirmed our predictions: relative to isolated object recognition, context-based object recognition was selectively and causally supported by OPA at 160–200 ms after onset, followed by LOC at 260–300 ms after onset. These results indicate that context-based expectations facilitate object recognition by disambiguating object representations in the visual cortex.

The Motivational Impact of Enhancing Reading Comprehension through Pictorial Fictions on the Involvement of Iranian EFL Students in Writing Activities

Determining the motivational impact of enhancing reading comprehension, through pictorial fictions, on the EFL students to involve them more in writing activities, is the prime purpose of the present study. The study took place in the Iranian Language Institute (ILI), the branch of Mahabad. Key English Test (KET) administrated to a hundred students to select the subjects of the present study. Finally, 60 male students were selected and randomly divided into the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received pictorial fictions as treatment, utilizing input reading comprehension enhancement through typographic elements, and direct and indirect feedback provided to them, while the control group received pictorial fiction texts without such inputs, then to collect the intended data, the "Academic Writing Motivation Questionnaire" (AWMQ) was administered to both groups separately in two stages of pre-tests and post-tests. The results showed that enhancing reading comprehension has a significant motivational impact on the writing engagement of Iranian EFL learners.

The effect of indirect feedback on students’ writing performance across different learning strategies

This paper aims at knowing how indirect feedback affects the writing performance of students who have different language learning strategies. The study used pre-experimental design with pretest and posttest design. Twenty-one students participated in the treatment which lasted for one semester. The treatment applied a process writing approach in which feedback provision was one of the steps in the process. The students were required to write five essays on different topics and the teacher gave indirect feedback on each essay draft. During the revision session, the students revised and rewrote their essays following the feedback provided by the teacher. The last version of each essay was scored. The results showed the students’ writing performance significantly improved from the first essay to the succeeding essays, regardless of their learning strategies. However, a significant difference in writing performance across different learning strategies was not found. They both performed equally well. Keywords: Direct Strategies, Indirect Strategies, Indirect Feedback, Process Approach, Writing Performance

effects of students’ engagement with direct and indirect corrective feedback on text rewriting

The identification of the most effective corrective technique is a matter of debate and the results of the studies comparing direct feedback (when students are given the correction) and indirect feedback (when they have to find it on their own) are mixed. Apart from this, the effectiveness of feedback might be influenced by the way students process it. Our study compares the effects of these two kinds of feedback on text rewriting and assesses the impact of students’ engagement during feedback processing. It was conducted on twenty-six Italian FL learners at a high school in Bordeaux. Students were divided into three groups (direct feedback, indirect feedback and control group), and they performed two writing tasks. After receiving the corrections, they revised and rewrote their texts. The experimental groups outperformed the control group. An extensive engagement in feedback processing, generally promoted by indirect feedback, led to better results in text rewriting.

Feedback and human learning: Preliminary insights from disengaged students

BACKGROUND: How to reconnect the disengaged learners has been a major challenge for human learning. Motivating the disengaged learners through traditional interventions has not been effective. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to examine whether feedback from an external unit would be more persuasive for the disengaged learners. The perception on a lack of learning stems from poor attitude of learning, poor behavior, laziness, and lack of learning ability and attention. METHODS: A foreign business community has collaborated with two Bangkok Metropolitan Administration schools since 2016 on creating constructive and indirect feedback. There were 337 students from both schools participated in the survey. 163 students participated in the revised practices while 174 students attended the traditional practices. RESULTS: The results show the gap between the two groups on the effects from constructive and indirect feedback. The disengaged students from the revised pedagogy show that they are attracted to constructive feedback and indirect feedback more. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that, unlike the traditional paradigm, the disengaged students are perceptive to external feedback. The findings show some consistency with previous studies. Integrating external feedback can attract the attention from the disengaged students which could potentially contribute to human learning.

Assessing the Effect of Direct and Indirect Corrective Feedback in Process-based vs Product-based Instruction on Learners’ Writing

The present study peruses EFL learners in a kind of process-product approach in writing and investigates the possible effects of teachers’ direct and indirect corrective feedback in four English language institutes in Isfahan, Iran. Four groups of intermediate students participated as a case in this study. The total number of participants was 120 female EFL learners selected based on a convenient non-random sampling method but randomly divided into four experimental groups. In the first group, the product-based approach was used to teach writing, and the learners received direct corrective feedback. In the second group, again product-based approach was used to teach writing, and the learners received indirect corrective feedback. In the third group, the writing was taught using a process-based approach, and the learners received direct corrective feedback, and in the last group, the learners received indirect feedback in process-based writing. The writing performance of the students in all four groups was compared in terms of accuracy. ANOVA and Post-hoc tests revealed that the process-based approach through which direct feedback was provided was more effective than other teaching writing approaches.

A preference analysis and justification of Arabic written corrective feedback among instructors and undergraduates

There has been extensive discussion on the need to use corrective feedback in writing within foreign language learning. Essentially, corrective feedback is one of the important tools in improving students’ skills in learning a language. This study aims to find out the preference and justification of written corrective feedback (WCF) through the use of Google Docs among instructors and students in a higher learning institute. The effects of the direct and indirect feedback with metalinguistic comments were also studied to determine their suitability in teaching and learning the Arabic language. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to (1) identify the preferred type of feedback among instructors and students, (2) identify justification of the preferred feedback type, and (3) examine post-test score differences between types of written correction feedback. Two questionnaires were adapted and distributed to 93 first-year students and four instructors of Arabic language for Academic Writing. Two instructors and five students were interviewed to find out their justification of the preferred types of WCF. A total of 50 respondents were divided into two groups according to the type of WCF provided, and post-test scores between the types of feedback were compared to determine if there was any significant difference between the types of feedback. The findings show that instructors prefer indirect WCF with metalinguistic comments while students prefer direct corrective feedback with metalinguistic comments. Post-test scores indicate that higher scores were achieved by students who received indirect feedback with metalinguistic comments. This indicates that students are able to process indirect feedback that is supplemented with metalinguistic comments. Moreover, an online learning environment provides more opportunities for instructors to highlight the students’ errors more clearly.